Our long-term Jaguar F-type arrived 50
weeks ago with a shade under 5,000 miles already under its wheels, in V6 S
flavour and in dark blue with a tan interior.
We opted for this spec because we thought
that it would be the best to drive. It has the lighter of the engine options;
there are two supercharged 3.0-litre V6s, one with 336bhp, this one with
375bhp, and a 5.0-litre supercharged VS. But the lesser-powered V6 doesn't come
with a limited-slip differential, whereas this V6 S does, while the heavier VS
has an electronically controlled limited-slip differential. That's mechanically
more refined but is heavier again.
Jaguar
F-type V6 S make one good drifting tool, with that supercharger giving you
plenty of torque early, so you can whip the poor rear tires all the way through
a corner
Mechanical refinement I never found a great
problem with the V6 S, mind. It also rode okay and had a pleasing stability
around the straight-ahead, making it a good motorway companion - apart from the
delusional satellite navigation. Once it told me that I'd average a mile a
minute in west London, urban, Monday morning traffic, to get to the office in
20 minutes. A few weeks later, it estimated that I'd want five hours to reach south
Wales from Slough. It seems to take your rate of progress in the journey thus
far and extrapolate.
Soon after the F-type's arrival, we used it
in our Britain's Best Driver's Car feature. Or at least, we planned to. It was
looked over by a Jaguar technician at the event at Snetterton and given the
green light. Two laps later, the lights on pit exit turned red because the
F-type had stranded itself after, we think, blowing a head gasket on one bank -
given the noise and the steam coming out of one exhaust. The fix was a new
engine at Jaguar HQ rather than a fix at the factory because Jaguar wanted to
know what had gone wrong, although no explanation has been offered to us. The
internet is quiet about similar goings-on, so we can assume that it's no more than
a one-off at this point.
The
interior designers have created a luxurious, spacious cabin that dresses
advanced acoustic and electronic technologies
Other than that, the F-type had no problems
on its way to amassing nearly 20,000 miles with us. Its first major service
came and went via Guy Salmon of Thames Ditton, costing $545, dealt with in a
day and with an XF diesel to tool around in while it was being looked at. It
arrived back clean, too, which I like.
We got through a set of tyres, which isn't
surprising, given the use that we gave the car; it got used in our Sideways
Challenge as well as quite a few other photo shoots where its rubber was smoked
up for the camera. As an owner, we'd expect over 20,000 miles from a set,
easily, unless you're a track day regular; fronts especially.
It’s
hard to make seat controls look elegant, especially when you throw in gloss
black plastic. The Seat Memory Pack clutters the door panel with yet more
buttons
We've enjoyed this car a great deal. Then,
rather suddenly, the F-type coupe reset the bar for Jaguar sports cars yet
again. The roadster still doesn't, to me, any rate, feel like the poorer,
posier version, but I can see that one day it might. In the meantime, it
departs this office even more highly regarded than when it arrived.
